Medical Costs are like crazy.

[DesertIguana]

Wife's Heart is not best, so she had 7 day EKG aka Haulter Monitor. Bill was: $3,850.00, between Medicare & Secondary they paid just shy of $400.00, then Cardiologist charge another $198.00 to read, and he got $44.00.

What happen to affordable care?

 

[Mr5x5]

You get affordable or care. Not both. Hope she got a good report

 

[NorthernSoul]

Most wages are stagnant even though the productivity and the size of the economy have continued to increase. That means a lot of people get left behind.

In addition, medical costs have been rising much faster than the rate of inflation for years now. It is like compound interest, but in reverse.

 

[DesertIguana]

You get affordable or care. Not both. Hope she got a good report

Well you are right there is correlation between cost, and coverage. Sad thing is the cost of medical service is nuts, simple ER Visit could be bill at thousand of dollars.

Recall the day in my life going to my doctor office with sever cut hand, Bernie the family doctor, cleaned up wound, stitched up hand, and seen me home after paying small fee out of wallet. Think it was $6.00.

Friend had similar injury in our community wood shop club, when to local ER, got seen, stitched up, bandaged, tetanus shot, and sent home.

Bill was over $5,000.00, from Non Profit Hospital. Guy has Medicare, and supplement. His Co - Pay was like $70.00 for ER.

 

[musicman1951]

No affordable medical care in the US. Maybe move to Canada?

 

[WetShaveVet]

Uh, we're not perfect either. Yes, free basically but there can be wait times for elective surgery and you still need insurance for prescription drugs.

 

[StillShaving]

What happen to affordable care?

It is tempting to blame insurance companies and big pharma (they must play some role), but also seems to be some combination of end-of-life care (high costs), sick-care (chronic conditions), lawyers (over testing/care), and generally poorer health of the population.

One might think doctors are getting rich, but I would not be surprised to learn that their standard of living (relative income) is lower than it has been since modern medicine started. I heard a cardiologist say that he gets paid less for procedures like installing a pacemaker or heart surgery than he did 30 years ago and that is in absolute dollars, in inflation adjusted terms it would be well over 10x less. And he needs to spend something like 20-30% of his time on paperwork for compliance and insurance reasons, where it was only 1-2% of his time when he started.

Making healthcare affordable for some is expensive for those who pay.

 

[Rushman2112]

Try Singapore. A few years ago I had a sinus operation (which didn't make any difference) at one of the private hospitals here. I was in a single room, for one night after the op. On checking out I was presented with a bill for almost SGD20,000.

 

[Doc4]

No affordable medical care in the US. Maybe move to Canada?

As a Canadian, I can refer you to this previous comment:

You get affordable or care. Not both.

 

[Nonspecific]

The problem with affordable healthcare is that we’ll spend into infinity on obliterating an enemy be it thru war in an active sense or one of a dormant(cold) nature, but ask to spend on healthcare or education …and good lawd let me clutch my money because we just can’t! Healthcare and Education and Housing are human rights. Peace

 

[Lockback]

I'm no expert on medical care. But I'll make a rash generalization: when government gets involved, the product rarely gets better or cheaper.

 

[DesertIguana]

I'm no expert on medical care. But I'll make a rash generalization: when government gets involved, the product rarely gets better or cheaper.

Free enterprise is better & does most things better then govenment.

 

[Lockback]

Free enterprise is better & does most things better then govenment.

Correctamente.

 

[StillShaving]

A humorous and critical take on insurance

 

[Sweeney_]

A humorous and critical take on insurance

"That's what GoFundMe's for."

Best quote of the vid.

 

[AshleyC]

I got to 60% VA disability, which means I no longer even have co-pays for any of my health care. I don't know what I'd do without that.

It is a minimum level of care I'd like to see all Americans have. Although if you asked me about it 30 years ago, I would have been dead set against "socialized" medicine. It was the line I was expected to take as a member of my political "tribe".

I'm not so tribal anymore. But I think two things stand in the way of us having that sort of universal care. First, we just aren't healthy. As a nation and a people. Second, you can't have 8 aircraft carrier battle groups AND free doctor visits. The math doesn't work.

 

[DesertIguana]

I got to 60% VA disability, which means I no longer even have co-pays for any of my health care. I don't know what I'd do without that.

VA Healthcare is different depending on where you are in the system, & live. Also you as a patient need be proactive with the system to make it work for you. If you’re complacent you’re SOL.

The funny thing is we call this Healthcare, but doctors are trained to find problem, fix problem, with poisoning, burning, and cutting. Most physician do not take about how to be healthier. Most have little or no training in nutrition. Well actually we have a SickCare system.

 

[AshleyC]

VA Healthcare is different depending on where you are in the system, & live. Also you as a patient need be proactive with the system to make it work for you. If you’re complacent you’re SOL.

The funny thing is we call this Healthcare, but doctors are trained to find problem, fix problem, with poisoning, burning, and cutting. Most physician do not take about how to be healthier. Most have little or no training in nutrition. Well actually we have a SickCare system.

Point in fact. I am considered "pre-diabetic". And while I refuse to renounce beer (what is Metformin for, anyway?), have you ever noticed how many grams of sugar is in a slice of American bread? It is a ridiculous amount. Why do I need sugar in my bread?

I've actually switched to a brand called "Ezekiel Bread", which has 5 grams of protein per slice and no sugar at all.

On the internet there's been pictures posted of Americans at the beach in the 1970s. There are no fat people visible. Everyone is skinny. What happened to us?

 

[musicman1951]

I'm no expert on medical care. But I'll make a rash generalization: when government gets involved, the product rarely gets better or cheaper.

I personally have only good things to say about my Medicare. Administrative costs are 2%, insurance companies generally take about 17% - and you get no healthcare for that percentage, just rich insurance companies.

 

[StillShaving]

I personally have only good things to say about my Medicare. Administrative costs are 2%, insurance companies generally take about 17% - and you get no healthcare for that percentage, just rich insurance companies.

My understanding is that Medicare does not pay the doctors very much, so much so that some are opting out of that system. But Medicare is better that alternatives like Medicare Advantage for both the doctors (less paperwork) and customers (less denial of coverage). Though I don't work in the medical field or use so I may be speaking incorrectly.

Insurance companies like UnitedHealth Group (UNH) have done well over the past decade. According to yahoo, since the beginning of 2010 its stock price has risen 1814% percent. While during this same time period the S&P 500 is up 410% percent.